Hillbillies tame Tigers

“We were pretty focused all week,” Fredonia head coach Greg Lauer said. “We knew a lot about (Akron). We shot the ball well from the start. We had eight (3-pointers) in the first half. It was big for us to start the game like that.”

Dylan Meyer led all scorers with 19 points, 15 of which came in the first quarter when the Hillbillies outscored the Tigers, 26-7.

“Meyer was scoring inside for us,” Lauer noted. “He kind of started it for us and that kind of opened things up for Nick (Johnston) and (John) Piper to hit some shots from the outside.”

The Hillbillies built on their lead in the second quarter, outscoring the Tigers, 18-8, taking a 44-15 lead into the break.

“We played pretty good defense,” Lauer said. “We had a pretty good idea of the plays they were going to run. It was certainly good that we were hitting shots. It frustrated them early.”

Akron won the third quarter, 12-9, but still found itself down an insurmountable 26 points heading into the final quarter, which saw Fredonia close out the game scoring 15 points to the Tigers’ 10.

Helping the Hillbillies along was their accuracy from behind the 3-point line, as they went 9-of-15 on the night.

“We’ve shot the ball pretty well all year from behind the arc,” Lauer noted. “It’s not something we want to rely on – we did (Friday) – but we got some open looks.”

Johnston finished with 15 points and seven assists while Piper added 11 points. Cam Voss chipped in a team-high eight rebounds to go with four points.

Up next for the Hillbillies will be a game on Monday at 6 p.m., at Buffalo State, where they will take on No. 1 CSAT in the Class B-2 semifinals. CSAT defeated City Honors in the other Class B-2 quarterfinal Friday.

“I’ve seen them a couple of times,” Lauer said of CSAT. “They’re a quick, athletic team and they can shoot it pretty well. They went undefeated in their league, so it will be a good test for us.”